A duel of the deceased

Here’s something for people who like G.K. Chesterton’s writing. Or Christopher Hitchens’ writing. Or European history and politics.

Perhaps you’re like me, and you like all of the above. In that case, you really must read this.

Who dares attack my Chesterton?

It is a cliché of pop psychology that we are least able to tolerate people who remind us of our own selves. There’s only room for one Life Of The Party and we feel a twinge of antagonism toward anyone whose excellence threatens to outshine our own. I was reminded of this when I read Christopher Hitchens’ posthumously published review of a biography of the great British journalist G.K. Chesterton.

Unprotected Sects

Slate ran an interesting article this week, which reveals that when it comes to computer viruses, you’re more likely to catch one visiting a church website than surfing for porn.

I learned that the hard way last year when on my watch the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy website was infected. The malicious code was detected and removed within hours, and I upgraded the site’s security to avoid a repeat.

However, if a site happens to be targeted by skilled hackers, no amount of security guarantees protection. I think that’s what happened to the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference website earlier this week. I missed it myself, but it was noticed on the Catholica board. Brian Coyne has handily furnished a screenshot:

Some tech-savvy Muslims hacked the site and directed users to a Youtube of an American imam praising Islam. The reason given?

“Tell your Cow to Stop the Freedom to Insult — then I’ll Stop the Freedom to Hack.”

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some online security to beef up.